Dark Knight
by ShadowsGrace
Summary: Batmans P.O.V. on his encounter with the girl who could know so much about him, more than even he knew. Companion piece to 'Darkest Knight' I reccomend that you read that one first. OneShot.


I sent a punk flying with a vicious uppercut and he slammed into a brick wall before sliding to the ground with the rest of the scum.

Once sure that they were all out cold, I looked around for the girl that they had attempted to jump. She had been gorgeous, small and slender, curved in all the right places, flame blue eyes framed by long black lashes and thick silver-blond hair, her skin as pale as moonlight and her lips ruby red. But she was gone.

I was about to leave, when something white caught my eye. It was a binder; the girl must have dropped it. I walked over and picked it up. The cover had a plastic slip on it that held a piece of paper on which the title was written. 'My words are my soul'.

Intrigued, I tucked the binder under my arm as I got into the Batmobile, setting it on the empty passenger seat beside me as I strapped in. As I looked at the empty seat I felt a pang of sadness and loneliness, with Barbra at collage and Dick god only knows where, I had been spending all of my nights alone. I would never admit it, but I would have liked some company.

Once back in the Batcave, I stripped out of my costume and donned a pair of plain black pajama pants after taking a quick shower.

Sitting in front of the fire in the study, I opened the binder, and found poetry. Long, graceful strands of words that were spun and woven together like a dream. One thing was for sure, this girl had talent that was far beyond her years.

Then I reached the poem that, though I didn't know it, would lead me to meet the girl that would change my life forever.

**Darkest Knight**

Darkest Knight,

Shadowed day,

Wings of leather that may never stay.

Burning white,

Burning soul,

On which life loves to take its toll.

Face hidden,

Heart exposed,

Yet not.  
Kept secrets from all,

But me.

You fear me,

But you love me,

You can keep yourself from all,

But me.

You are hated by many,

You are feared by some,

You walk through the dark all alone.

You go unseen in shadows and darkness,

No one can see you,

But me.

Hidden face and glowing eyes,

Billowing black completes your disguise,

So that no one may know you,

But me.

I watch you always,

I whisper in your ear,

Comfort and care,

Like none other would dare,

But me.

For I see your pain,

For I see your fear,

I know everything that you shall ever hold dear,

For you share it with no one,

But me.

You tell me your secrets,

Though you speak not a word,

For voices mean nothing,

For none can be heard.

To none are your heart and mind open,

But me.

For I keep secrets like no other can,

I am within you,

I am around you,

You are my own,

None can hold you,

But me.

For you are the Dark Knight,

And I am the dark night.

I sat there, stunned and a little shaken. Was this poem describing me? If it was it was unnervingly accurate, not to mention it brought to light things about myself that even I had not known.

This was strange; this was unsettling and, perhaps even a little frightening. All my life after my parents' murder, I had been sure to keep up a mask, and I wasn't talking about the one with pointy ears. No, there was a mask that I never took off, the one that hid everything from everyone, my fear, my pain, my deepest desires and yet this girl, weather knowingly or unknowingly had just stripped that mask away, shredding it as if it were made of tissue paper. I had to find out more about this girl, I had to find out more about this poem. I had to figure all of this out. And I wouldn't be able to rest until I did.

* * *

I crouched in the tree just outside her balcony, pondering how to go about this. I had made no headway besides the fact that her name was Kelly Karmichael, she was fifteen years old, and had just moved to Gotham the day before yesterday from Brazil. She had had no contact with me before last night, she had never even seen me in person, how could she read me so accurately?

Finally making my decision, I slipped into her bedroom and placed the binder on her desk. I had planned on leaving the room and returning to my perch in the tree, but that option was terminated by the door opening and Kelly coming in, forcing me to hide in the shadows made by the curtains.

This was not a good situation, all she would have to do was flick the light switch by the door and she would be able to see me easily. She moved her hand as if she was going to do just that, but then stopped, seemed to change her mind and walked over to her bed instead, switching on the lamp that sat on the bedside table instead. This allowed her to see what she was doing, but let me stay hidden.

She had obviously just finished taking a shower, because she holding a towel around her damp body, her long, slivery hair gleaming wetly in the lamp light.

She was even more fragile looking than she had looked when the group of thugs had attacked her the night before, like a breeze could blow her away if it became to strong.

I closed my eyes and turned my head away as she changed into her pajamas.

After hanging up her towel, she spotted her binder and retrieved it before settling down on her bed and beginning to flip through it.

After reading **Darkest Knight**, she turned the page and saw the note I had left for her. Her eyebrow rose as she plucked the folded piece of paper from its place and opened it.

As she read it, a small smirk came onto her face and she fingered the bruise on her cheek that one of the men had given her last night, the smirk then turned to a slight smile and she shocked me again when she spoke out loud to the room. "I have always been more observant than others, all I had to see was a picture and all I had to hear was a story." She looked up from the letter as she finished speaking, her intense gaze immediately locking on my position in the shadows.

After a moment or two, I left the shadows and stood just outside the pool of light that the bed lamp made. I didn't show it, but the fact that she had known I was there, that she wasn't reacting to the Batman standing in her bedroom, or that I had possibly seen her changing, threw me a little. This, coupled with the reasons I was here for, and the fact that she seemed to know all of this, was leaving me vary on edge.

"How long did you know I was there?" I asked, getting straight to the point. "Since the moment I came into the room." I opened my mouth to ask why she hadn't acknowledged me before now, but she answered my question before I could even ask it. "I wanted to be sure you were here for the reason I thought you would be here for."

I felt my eyes widen as realization came to me "You dropped it on purpose; you _wanted _me to read it!" "But of course." She still hadn't moved or reacted to my presence, and it was throwing me off balance, and I had the feeling that she knew this. "Why?" I asked "Why not?" I gave her on of my best 'Bat-glares', but she didn't even flinch. "To warn you that there are those who know more than you could ever think they know." I shifted my weight, feeling more ill at ease than I could ever remember being before. Partly because she was probably right, and partly because she had manipulated me into coming here with such simplicity and ease. Her next statement dragged me back to reality.

"And so that you could know that you have more allies than you think." Then she smiled at me, it was a smile that told me that I could trust her if ever I needed to. I returned her smile with a small twitch of my lips at the corners.

Then I spun around and jumped out the window, leaving the way I had come.


End file.
